GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ABC News' Abby D. Phillip: " A Day In The Life: One Republican's Quest For Compromise In An Age Of Hardliners" Most of Rep. Leonard Lance's New Jersey constituents were fairly cordial when he returned their calls Tuesday afternoon, but "sometimes they shout and yell," the Republican said. "Sometimes they just vent." It's not hard to see why. Nine days into a government shutdown, Lance is one of a small group of Republicans and Democrats in Congress looking desperately for an escape valve to the crisis of government that seems to go on and on. Some, like Lance, are torn between their antipathy toward the health care law at the center of the shutdown standoff and their desire to get the government working, quickly. LINK

The USA Today's Susan Davis and David Jackson: " Obama Convenes Talks With Congress On Ending Shutdown" President Obama is stepping up his personal engagement with lawmakers over the government shutdown, setting up private meetings at the White House in an effort to make progress in deadlocked budget negotiations. The president "believes Congress will do the right thing" and vote to end the partial government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling by the Oct. 17 deadline, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's Patrick O'Connor, Janet Hook and Carol E. Lee: " Shutdown Standoff Shows Signs Of A Thaw" The partisan logjam that has paralyzed the capital showed signs of easing Wednesday, as conservative Republicans warmed to the idea of a short-term increase in the country's borrowing limit and House GOP leaders prepared for their first meeting with President Barack Obama since the government shutdown began. Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, outlined a plan Wednesday to fellow conservatives to extend the nation's borrowing limit for four to six weeks, paired with a framework for broader deficit-reduction talks, according to lawmakers briefed on the proposal. The greater the spending reduction the talks produced, the longer the next extension of the debt ceiling would be under Mr. Ryan's plan. LINK

EGYPT The Hills' Carlo Munoz: " US suspends military sales, aid to Egypt" The White House is indefinitely suspending millions of dollars in military hardware and foreign aid to Egypt, in the wake of the interim government's violent crackdown on opponents of the current regime. "We have decided to maintain our relationship with the Egyptian government, while recalibrating our assistance to Egypt to best advance our interests," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday. LINK

GOP The Los Angeles Times' Lisa Mascaro and Michael A. Memoli: " Rep. Paul Ryan fails to close Republican divide" Rep. Paul D. Ryan, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, has been a tea party favorite and a bridge between House conservatives and the party leadership ever since he took the lead in crafting a plan to scale back Medicare and other social programs to reduce federal spending. But on Wednesday, when Ryan (R-Wis.) stepped forward to try to bring Republican factions together behind a strategy to end the government's latest budget stalemate, some of the same conservatives who once trusted him went cold. LINK

Politico's Rich Lowry: " Train wreck: The Obamacare rollout" 'I'm not yet ready to be tsar," Nicholas II reportedly said in 1894 when his predecessor died. "I know nothing of the business of ruling." The tsarina of Obamacare, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, must know how he felt. Given the keys to the kingdom of American health care by the sweeping 2010 law, she appears to have dropped them somewhere and is fumbling to pick them back up. LINK

BUDGET Bloomberg's Mike Dorning & Margaret Talev: " Obama's Hardline Budget Stance Rooted in Anger Over 2011 Impasse" Shortly before President Barack Obama was re-elected, he confided to John Podesta, an informal adviser, a vow he was making for his second term: He would never again bargain with Republicans to extend the U.S. debt limit. The precedent, set in the agreement that ended a 2011 budget standoff, "sent a signal that this was fair game to blackmail over whether the country would default," said Podesta, a onetime chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and co-chairman of Obama's 2008 presidential transition, in an interview. "He feels like he has to end it and end it forever." LINK

TROOP DEATH BENEFITS The Washington Times' Dave Boyer: " Congress and White House scramble to restore death benefits to troops' families" President Obama and Congress scrambled Wednesday to reinstate death benefits for families of American troops killed in action, with the White House saying Mr. Obama was shocked to learn his Defense Department wasn't paying the death gratuity because of the government shutdown. The House unanimously passed a bill to authorize payment of the gratuity, while Mr. Obama ordered the Pentagon to find a way to immediately begin paying the gratuity, which amounts to $100,000 to cover funeral costs and immediate needs. LINK